Eider

Eider, common name for four sea duck species. The most widely distributed and best known is the common eider, which breeds in arctic regions around the world but also as far south as the Atlantic coasts of New England and the British Isles. It is a large duck, 61 cm (24 in) long. Males take three years to attain their adult plumage, with a white back, black underparts, and a black head stripe. The back of the neck is mossy green. Females are brown (the shade varying geographically), narrowly barred with black. The females line their nests with soft gray down taken from their breasts. This down, harvested from the nests, is commercially valuable, used for lining winter clothing and sleeping bags.

The king eider, 56 cm (22 in) long, breeds on the arctic tundra, and winters regularly south to Alaska on the Pacific and to Long Island, New York, on the Atlantic coast. It may occasionally be seen farther south and on the Great Lakes. The female looks much like the common eider, but the adult male has a black back and a distinctive swollen orange knob at the base of the bill.

The other two species, the spectacled eider, 53 cm (21 in) long, and Steller's eider, 43 cm (17 in) long, are confined to the northwestern Pacific, in Alaska and Siberia, and are rarely seen farther south.

Scientific classification: Eiders belong to the family Anatidae of the order Anseriformes. The common eider is classified as Somateria mollissima, the king eider as Somateria spectabilis, the spectacled eider as Somateria fischeri, and Steller's eider as Polysticta stelleri.